Police Academy Incident

[Tacit Blue]

So my friend is a attending a Police Academy in the San Diego area, and i just got a phone call from him yesterday. He told me that he was in a gas chamber, on a Military base. And that he become dizzy and disoriented and fell outside on a rock pile and had a seizure Now he says his Jaw is wired closed.. I feel terrible for him..


I was wondering if its a normal thing for them to use a ' Gas Chamber' i mean i know everyone gets sprayed with O.C Spray and/or Tazer'd. But what about being exposed to riot agents in a chamber?

[Cokebottle]

Routine for military, I wasn't aware they did it for LE.

My brother ended up needing sinus surgery before the chamber routine... and he was in the reserves (full time student at UCI, went on to get a PhD out of UCR).

[Roddd]

Yup, it's standard training. Everyone gets exposed to OC and CS from pepperball guns, grenades and spray, both outside and inside a building (the gashouse). It's by far the worst part of the academy. Atleast he didn't have to get sprayed by the OC, I felt that for hours. I hope he's doing better. Tell him to keep training, it's all downhill after the chemical agent section of the academy.

[Tacit Blue]

Yeah. Hes prior Army Service, so i'm not sure what went wrong? He's done this before.

Now hes medically disqualified, and sitting at home with this injury.. Told to heal up and come back, the staff of the academy came and saw him at the Hospital. But wow!

[fullrearview]

OC sucked... Didn't kick in on me for about 30-45 seconds, but as soon as it did, I was a little girl. I think my catipilar eyebrows soaked up a bunch of it....

Gas was easy. Mission statement, 40 pushups 30 three count jumping jacks... They got tired and sent me out. It's a pure mental thing with gas... You think your not getting air but you are. CN and CS.

[epilepticninja]

I got the chamber when I was stationed in South Korea in the late 80's. You go in, sit there in your gas mask for a spell, then they tell you take them off. That's when the fun starts. They used CS in our exercises as well. You prayed your training filter still had good charcoal in it. When I went thru OC pepper training at my old department, we sprayed it into a bag, and put it up to our face. Good stuff.

[Triad]

I had to fight the red man for 5 minutes after I got OC'd, I still have nightmares about that day - ....I hate the OC we carry, I don't even carry it on my belt anymore.

I hate it.

CN/CS was easy peasy. But I hate OC.

[Roddd]

That sucks he has to start over.

[anthonyca]

Wow, poor guy. I'm not a LEO but I did the chamber in the Army. Did he have an allergic reaction? I've never heard of such a bad reaction.

[ankyle62]

Gas chamber is just a brick building where they set off a CS gas thing and let you gain confidence in your equipment. Im guessing it's the one at miramar, that sucks big time. CS gas can be a kick in the nuts, I could see that bringing out some underling health problems.

[Jonathan Doe]

When I was an instructor at the weapons training, I had a few incidents when some recruits pass out and fall head first. Some of them required some stitches. I am glad that there were no real serious medical/emergency issues.

[Outta Control]

Yup, it's standard training. Everyone gets exposed to OC and CS from pepperball guns, grenades and spray, both outside and inside a building (the gashouse). It's by far the worst part of the academy. Atleast he didn't have to get sprayed by the OC, I felt that for hours. I hope he's doing better. Tell him to keep training, it's all downhill after the chemical agent section of the academy.

What he said. It is standard. I've been gassed more than once (6) I believe and sprayed once as that was enough for me.

[1911su16b870]

I had to fight the red man for 5 minutes after I got OC'd, I still have nightmares about that day - ....I hate the OC we carry, I don't even carry it on my belt anymore.

I hate it.

CN/CS was easy peasy. But I hate OC.

+1 me too. They made us open both eyes, squirted it right in both eyes then spell out our names, answer questions and then fight the DT instructors...I hate OC. My eyes felt dry for over 24 hours.

Knowing it was all mental got me through it!

Sorry to hear that Tacit...hopefully he can recycle in and realize his dream!

[HoMa506]

Standard training and for me it paid off. One New Year's Eve someone set off a CS grenade in a crowded intersection. As our squad saw the smoke and went to check it out we got the whiff and knew it was no smoke bomb. No panic as we moved back into clear air. We remembered not to start rubbing and just waved our hands in front of our eyes to blow them out. Of course those in the intersection thought the end of the world was coming.

[SVT-40]

His class was at Miramar?

I went to chemical agent instructor school there. We got gassed multiple times each day for a week. One day we were practicing shooting all sorts of gas CS, CN, OC into a metal "building"(conex box) which had holes cut in it to simulate windows. plywood window covers were hung in the windows so we we could shoot through them. Afterwards they marched all of us students into the "building" and shut the doors. It was to say the least very uncomfortable, but as said above 99% of ones reaction to gas is emotional.

Not fun, but interesting. Every day after class we would go to the hotel pool and just jump in BDU's and all. Trying to get some of the gas out so we would not gas our hotel rooms.

Too bad for your friend. I hope he makes a full recovery.